TVSquad

On Sunday evening, TNT kicked off its second entry into the police drama genre with Wanted, starring Gary Cole (The Brady Bunch, The West Wing) as Conrad "Connie" Rose and Saliva's lead singer Josey Scott (who plays Rodney Gronbeck), among others. Up front, I've got to say that if what Bob Sassone wrote about yesterday is true, then I'm definitely worried about the life of this show on television, because the premiere wasn't necessarily something to write home about.

Connie Rose is in charge of an "elite" team of law enforcement individuals (I use that term on purpose) whose responsibility it is to track down the 100 most wanted crooks, killers, and escaped cons in Los Angeles at any one time. Sounds like an uphill battle to me - and it is. When compared to TNT's other fairly popular summertime drama The Closer, this show seems to have a whole lotta smoke and nothing in the mirror - but if you can get past the lack of serious plot and jumbled storytelling, then this might be the show for you. The pilot episode was obviously done to dazzle us all with some cool camera effects, lots of ammunition, and a sharp talking district attorney who likes to dish it out. It also appears that TNT looked to reprise an Edward James Olmos-like character from Miami Vice by casting Joaqium de Almeida as Captain Manuel Valenza, the actual boss of the Elite Law Enforcement Squad.

This show definitely didn't follow a formula per se, but it attempted to take the Mission: Impossible-like team aspect of a cop show and spin it a little, with LAPD, FBI, ATF, and even Naval Intelligence having a piece of the action on the scene. The episode begins with sex jokes being made at ATF tough guy Jimmy McGloin, who claims to be a virgin and has conservative beliefs that will surely be a barrel of laughs for the rest of the cast. After knocking out a faux priest on the street, it's quickly made apparent that the man with the broken nose is one of the 100 criminals - though it's not as if the producers wanted you to have a clue as to what was going on or not. Connie's ohsotypical divorced character shows his emotions while trying to protect a young victim of rape, ignoring his own children who are waiting for a ride home, but all is quickly forgotten when the you-know-what hits the fan and a killer hits the streets after escaping from the law. After being shown some more gunfire, a hot chick getting her groove on with one of the cops as part of a trap, and some nifty satellite tracking on the criminal in question that is conveniently halted by another government agency's need for the "bird" the show goes as far to kill off one of the characters, less than an hour in, when Joe Vacco (played by Brendan Kelly, pictured), is shot unceremoniously by "a stray." How quaint, and a fun way to introduce a new character in next week's "Episode 1."